Ranking Every NHL Starting Goalie Part Three: 10-1
The third and final article in this series ranking every single starting goalie in the NHL is here, and once again, it was a true struggle.
However, I truly believe this to be the correct order for the time being. It will be interesting to see how much it may change change after the 2020-21 NHL season is over.
As mentioned in the two previous articles in this series, this list isn’t based off of just last season, though it does play a factor. The attempt is to try and base it on who you would want in net for your team during the upcoming season, while also factoring in how they have faired over the last few seasons.
Without further ado, here are the current top 10 goalies in the NHL. Let’s delve right in…
Pick Analysis. G. . Carter Hart . 10. Scouting Report. player. 68
The Philadelphia Flyers have finally found their franchise goalie. Carter Hart has been hyped up as being this organization’s savior for some time now, and is proving that to be true over his first season and a half with them. While some may argue he is a bit higher on this list than he should be, it is important to note just how good he played during the second half of the 2019-20 season.
The scary thing for other teams in the league is that Hart is only 22-years-old, meaning he has not even scratched the surface of his potential yet. There is a reason he was able to win both the WHL and CHL goaltender of the year in two different seasons. This kid is special, and he has a chance to become one of if not the top goalie in the league over the next couple of years.
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Hart will also benefit from playing on the Flyers, a team who on paper has one of the more talented rosters in the Eastern Conference. A lot of their top end pieces, including Hart, are very young, meaning that this team will likely continue to be one of the better teams in the East for a long time to come.
It took far too long, but the Philadelphia Flyers finally have stability between the pipes.
Scouting Report. G. 9. player. Pick Analysis. . Jacob Markstrom . 112
The Calgary Flames landed one of the biggest 2020 Free Agents when they announced the signing of goaltender Jacob Markstrom to a six-year, $36 million contract. The 30-year-old had been the Vancouver Canucks starting goaltender for multiple seasons.
The 2019-20 season was a career year for Markstrom, who finally became the goaltender many had thought he had the potential to be, recording a .918 Save Percentage and a 2.75 Goals Against Average to go along with two shutouts and a 23-16-4 record.
He was one of the main reasons, if not the biggest, that the Canucks were able to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2014-15. His great season had many thinking he was snubbed from being a Vezina Trophy candidate.
Joining the Flames should benefit Markstrom, as they have a very solid roster headed into the 2020-21 season. Since the Miikka Kiprusoff era, this franchise has gone through many goalies trying to find an adequate replacement, and appear to have finally done that with this signing. This may just be the piece they need in order to go on a deep postseason run.
Pick Analysis. John Gibson . player. 105. Scouting Report. G . . 8
The 2019-20 season was a rough one for John Gibson, but he can hardly be blamed. The Anaheim Ducks are no longer a feared team in the Western Conference like they were for so many years, as their core has started to age. Despite the down year, it is important to remember that Gibson is still just 27-years-old, which seems crazy given how long he has already been in the league.
He proved for multiple seasons with a better roster in front of him just how good he is, and that talent certainly didn’t just disappear. While he is farther down this list than he would have been in years past, he can climb back up if he is able to have a better 2020-21 season.
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The good news for the two-time NHL All-Star is that despite his team struggling the last few seasons, they may soon again be on the rise. The Ducks boast some excellent young talent that should soon be making an impact at the NHL level, perhaps as soon as the 2020-21 season. If that is the case, you can count on Gibson having a bounce back season.
Pick Analysis. G . . 7. Scouting Report. Robin Lehner . player. 942
What a story Robin Lehner has been. After inconsistent play plagued him for his first five full seasons in the league, many were left frustrated as it was clear just how talented he was. The inconsistencies made much more sense when the Swedish goaltender admitted after the 2017-18 season that he had been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and was also struggling with alcohol addiction.
Since being open about his struggles and getting help, Lehner has went from a questionable number one to one of the best starting goalies in the entire league. After a terrific 2018-19 season with the New York Islanders, where he was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, he signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks who then dealt him at the 2020 trade deadline to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights, despite having future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury, chose to go with Lehner for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs and signed him to a five-year, $25 million deal shortly after.
As good as Lehner’s numbers have been over the past few seasons, you can expect them to be even better playing behind arguably the best lineup in the entire NHL. The Golden Knights are absolutely stacked and will be heavy Stanley Cup favorites for the upcoming season. He also has one of, if not the best ‘backups’ in the entire league in Fleury, who will allow him to get the rest he needs to stay on top of his game.
Lehner has a chance to find himself in the top five on this list next offseason.
6. 121. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. G. Darcy Kuemper . . player
Like Robin Lehner, Darcy Kuemper has really established himself as a top tier goalie over the past couple of seasons. Prior to joining the Arizona Coyotes, Kuemper had mainly been used as a backup with the Minnesota Wild which, in hindsight, was a big mistake.
Over the past two seasons, Kuemper has been one of the best goalies in the entire league, if not the best. Despite playing behind a questionable Coyotes roster, he has posted fantastic numbers and was considered the Vezina Trophy favorite before suffering a lower-body injury in mid-December.
The Coyotes, who were in a Playoff spot at the time, went on a massive slide down the standings after Kuemper’s injury, barely qualifying for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs despite the league going to a 24-team format rather than the usual 16.
Unfortunately for Kuemper, the Coyotes organization is a tire fire right now. The hope is that new General Manager Bill Armstrong can help straighten them out, but that remains to be seen. They seem to be going back into a rebuild state, and as a result there have been rumors they were calling teams regarding their starting netminder. Though nothing is imminent, getting traded to a better roster would be exactly what Kuemper needs to prove to the world just how good he is.
G. . Carey Price . player. Pick Analysis. 5. 152. Scouting Report
This will be one of the most controversial rankings on this list, given how different people view Carey Price. Many, including current players, still see him as the best goalie in the entire world. However, his numbers the past few seasons haven’t backed that sentiment up.
In Price’s defence, he has had to play in front of a Canadiens roster that has had many flaws throughout his entire 13-year career. Still, at one point he was able to mask many of his teams deficiencies, something he has struggled to do the last few years. His talent is still very evident, as he is able to win games on his own, though not as often as before.
If he had a more competent team in front of him, he very well may still be regarded as the league’s best goalie, so his drop in play certainly isn’t just his fault.
However, given that Price is the NHL’s highest paid goalie with a cap hit of $10.5 million per season, he needs to play better than he has lately. The 2020-21 season is a big year for Carey Price to prove he is still one of the games best. If not, he will find himself lower on this list.
player. 119. G. . Ben Bishop . 4. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis
When healthy, Ben Bishop is one of the most dominant goaltenders in the entire league. Unfortunately, injuries are something he has struggled with throughout his eight-year NHL career. This was the case yet again this past year, as he was forced to miss the majority of his team’s postseason run in which they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
Still, there is no denying Bishop’s talent. The NHL’s biggest goalie, standing at a massive six-foot-seven, has posted nothing but great numbers consistently each and every season during his NHL career. The scary thing going forward with him is his injury trouble paired with the fact he is 34-years-old, but until his play drops off it is nearly impossible to argue the fact that he is a top five goalie in the league.
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The great news for Bishop and the Stars next season is that Anton Khudobin proved during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs that he is more than capable of being relied upon, meaning that Bishop can be given more rest in order to try and prevent injury. Their roster for the 2020-21 season is nearly the exact same as it was in 2019-20, which should allow for Bishop to continue posting great numbers.
. player. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. 3. 107. G . Connor Hellebuyck
No goaltender in the league had a better 2019-20 season than Connor Hellebuyck, and he was rewarded with that by winning the Vezina Trophy, the first of his career. Hellebuyck won that award thanks to some stellar numbers and performances, going 31-21-5 with a .922 Save Percentage, a 2.57 Goals Against Average and six shutouts, which led the entire NHL.
The Winnipeg Jets, who had been one of the best teams in the Western Conference for a number of years, lost many key blueliners from the 2018-19 season and were forced to go with a very inexperienced group.
The backend often struggled last season, but it went fairly unnoticed thanks to the great play of Hellebuyck. Had the Jets not had the 27-year-old netminder, they more than likely would have been a lottery team. As a result, many were discussing him being a potential Hart Trophy candidate, and though that never ended up being the case, it speaks to just how good he was last season.
Given that he is still just 27-years-old, Hellebuyck should continue to be one of the league’s very best goalies for a long time to come. The one problem facing him is that the Jets roster is in a bit of an odd spot. They have a ton of talent up front, but a very underwhelming blueline. If they are not able to address that for the 2020-21 season, it will be another season of struggles in the defensive end, though Connor Hellebuyck proved last season that he is more than good enough to overcome that.
Tuukka Rask . 2. player. 70. Scouting Report. G. . Pick Analysis
Since becoming a full time NHLer during the 2009-10 season, you’d be hard pressed to find a more consistently dominant goaltender than Tuukka Rask. Sure, he was a backup behind Tim Thomas for his first three seasons, but he was great in that role and has continued to be great ever since as a starter.
The Bruins have been one of the NHL’s most dominant teams during Rask’s tenure, and he is a big part of that. The 2013-14 Vezina Trophy winner truly has not had a bad season since coming into the league, posting numbers that keep him in the Vezina conversation almost every year, including this past season where he was one of the three finalists.
Recently, there have been some rumors regarding Rask’s future with the Bruins, many of which were a result of him opting out of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Though the reason was validated as he had a family issue to tend to, it brought up further concerns he himself had raised about whether or not he wanted to continue playing hockey.
However, Rask has recently come out saying he is excited and ready to go for the 2020-21 season, which is great news for Bruins fans. Look for him to be in the Vezina hunt once again.
Andrei Vasilevskiy. G . . 1. player. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. 23
At this point, there isn’t much that can even be said about the brilliance of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Some of his detractors will argue that playing on the Tampa Bay Lightning benefits him in a big way and he would not be the same goalie on a different team. The first part of that is certainly true, but regardless of which team he is on, Vasilevskiy would still be very near, if not at the top of this list.
One stat in particular that shows Vasilevskiy’s greatness is that he completed all 52 of the games he started this past season, going 35-14-3 during the 2019-20 regular season with a stellar 2.56 Goals Against Average and a .917 Save Percentage.
While no goalie ever wants to be taken out, it is almost guaranteed to happen a few times a season when they or the team have an off-night. However, that wasn’t the case for the 26-year-old, who was locked in and ready to go during every single start he had last season.
The one area of Vasilevskiy’s game that was questioned prior to this last postseason was his ability to continue his regular season dominance in the Playoffs. He certainly proved himself during his team’s 2020 Stanley Cup Playoff Championship, as he easily could have been rewarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy.
He absolutely dominated inside The Bubble, standing on his head for his team on a number of occasions, finishing the postseason with a 18-7-0 record to go with a 1.90 Goals Against Average and a .927 Save Percentage.
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His age, paired with how great his team is, means he will continue to be the best or on a short list of best goalies in the league for a long time to come. The 2018-19 Vezina winner has a great shot at winning that Trophy again in 2020-21, and maybe even another Stanley Cup.